Learning Swift - Second Edition

Table of Contents

Learning Swift Second Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Introducing Swift

Defining our goals for this book

Setting up the development environment

Running our first swift code

Understanding playgrounds

Learning with this book

Summary

2. Building Blocks – Variables, Collections, and Flow Control

Core Swift types

Constants and variables

Containers

Tuples

Arrays

Dictionaries

Swift's type system

Printing to the console

Control flow

Conditionals

Switches

Loops

Functions

Basic functions

Parameterized functions

Functions that return values

Functions with default arguments

Guard statement

Bringing it all together

Summary

3. One Piece at a Time – Types, Scopes, and Projects

Structs

Types versus instances

Properties

Member and static methods

Computed properties

Reacting to property changes

Subscripts

Custom initialization

Classes

Inheriting from another class

Initialization

Overriding initializer

Required initializer

Designated and convenience initializers

Overriding methods and computed properties

Methods

Computed properties

Casting

Upcasting

Downcasting

Enumerations

Basic declaration

Testing enumeration values

Raw values

Associated values

Methods and properties

Projects

Setting up a command-line Xcode project

Creating and using an external file

Interfacing with code from other files

File organization and navigation

Extensions

Scope

How scope is defined

Nested types

Access control

Summary

4. To Be or Not To Be – Optionals

Defining an optional

Unwrapping an optional

Optional binding

Forced unwrapping

Nil coalescing

Optional chaining

Implicitly unwrapped optionals

Debugging optionals

The underlying implementation

Summary

5. A Modern Paradigm – Closures and Functional Programming

Functional programming philosophy

State and side effects

Declarative versus imperative code

Closures

Closures as variables

Closures as parameters

Syntactic sugar

Building blocks of functional programming in Swift

Filter

Reduce

Map

Sort

How these affect the state and nature of code

Lazy evaluation

Example

Summary

6. Make Swift Work For You – Protocols and Generics

Protocols

Defining a protocol

Implementing a protocol

Using type aliases

Generics

Generic function

Generic type

Type constraints

Protocol constraints

Where clauses for protocols

Where clauses for equality

Extending generics

Adding methods to all forms of a generic

Adding methods to only certain instances of a generic

Extending protocols

Putting protocols and generics to use

Generators

Sequences

Product of Fibonacci numbers under 50

Summary

7. Everything Is Connected – Memory Management

Computer data storage

File system

Memory

Value types versus reference types

Determining value type or reference type

Behavior on assignment

Behavior on input

Closure capture behavior

Automatic reference counting

Object relationships

Strong

Weak

Unowned

Strong reference cycles

Between objects

Spotting

Fixing

With closures

Spotting

Fixing

Lost objects

Between objects

With closures

Structures versus classes

Summary

8. Paths Less Traveled – Error Handling

Throwing errors

Defining an error type

Defining a function that throws an error

Implementing a function that throws an error

Handling errors

Forceful try

Optional try

Catching an error

Propagating errors

Cleaning up in error situations

Order of execution when errors occur

Deferring execution

Summary

9. Writing Code the Swift Way – Design Patterns and Techniques

What is a design pattern?

Behavioral patterns

Iterator

Observer

Callback

Notification center

Structural patterns

Composite

Hierarchies

Alternative to subclassing

Delegate

Model view controller

Creational patterns

Singleton/shared instance

Abstract factory

Using associated values effectively

Replacing class hierarchies

Concisely representing state

Extending system types to reduce code

Lazy properties

Avoiding unnecessary memory usage

Avoiding unnecessary processing

Localizing logic to the concerned property

Summary

10. Harnessing the Past – Understanding and Translating Objective-C

Swift's relationship to Objective-C

Background of Objective-C

Constants and variables

Value types

Reference types

Containers

Arrays

Dictionaries

Control flow

Conditionals

Switches

Loops

Functions

Types

Structures

Enumerations

Classes

Basic class

Initializers

Properties

Methods

Inheritance

Categories

Protocols

Blocks

Projects

Header files

Implementation files

Organization

Calling Objective-C code from Swift

Bridging header

Using functions

Using types

Containers

Annotations

Nullability

Container element types

Summary

11. A Whole New World – Developing an App

Conceptualizing the app

Features

Interface

Data

Setting up the app project

Configuring the user interface

Running the app

Allowing picture taking

Temporarily saving a photo

Populating our photo grid

Refactoring to respect model-view-controller

Permanently saving a photo

Summary

12. What's Next? – Resources, Advice, and the Next Steps

Apple's documentation

Forums and blogs

Blog posts

Forums

Prominent figures

Podcasts

Summary

Index

Learning Swift Second Edition

Learning Swift Second Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: June 2015

Second edition: March 2016

Production reference: 1170316

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78588-751-2

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Andrew J Wagner

Reviewer

Guan Gui

Commissioning Editor

Kartikey Pandey

Acquisition Editors

Vivek Anantharaman

Chaitanya Nair

Content Development Editor

Viranchi Shetty

Technical Editor

Saurabh Malhotra

Copy Editors

Kevin McGowan

Sneha Singh

Project Coordinator

Izzat Contractor

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Indexer

Hemangini Bari

Production Coordinator

Shantanu N. Zagade

Cover Work

Shantanu N. Zagade

About the Author

Andrew J Wagner is a software developer who concentrates on iOS development and backend web services. He has a degree in computer engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. Currently, he works for a development shop named Chronos Interactive based in Denver, CO. He has experience of working with and for large-scale and small-scale companies, as well as running his own contracting and app companies. He is passionate about using computers as a creative outlet and writing software that is beautiful in implementation, functionality, and experience.

When he isn't working or spending time with friends and family, he writes for his blog at http://drewag.me.

I would like to thank my friends and family for being there for me as support for both my troubles and triumphs. Without their encouragement, I would not have finished this book or achieved any of the other things in my life that make me proud. An especially big thanks to my parents, Fern and Joe, for continually providing me with the tools I need to do the things I love.

About the Reviewer

Guan Gui graduated from the University of Melbourne. He implemented the first system of its kind for beekeepers using satellite sensory data to help them deploy their honeybees better. He is also a big fan of Apple. He started his own open source project—Uni Call (unicall.guiguan.net) for OS X. While his research focus is on machine learning, he enjoys the more practical side of CS: developing apps using Swift and JavaScript. Currently, he is trying to set his own start-up. Big ideas to change the world always spin in his head!

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Preface

This book will help you to get started with Swift in no time. It helps you understand the nuances of iOS programming not only from a conceptual but also from an implementation perspective. This book is an invaluable resource if you are looking forward to exploring the world of iOS application programming.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introducing Swift, will take the reader through the process of installing Swift and running their first Swift program, in order to expose its power right away.

Chapter 2, Building Blocks - Variables, Collections, and Flow Control, introduces you to the various built-in mechanisms Swift has for representing complex information in expressive and accessible ways, with the help of a real-world example.

Chapter 3, One Piece at a Time - Types, Scopes, and Projects, introduces the tools necessary to closely model the real world with code. It will teach you how to define your own custom types using structures, classes, and enumerations. It also explores the concept of scope and access control.

Chapter 4, To Be or Not To Be - Optionals, focuses on a special and critical type in Swift, called optionals. It includes a detailed explanation of how optionals work and how they can be used, which turns a seemingly complex topic into a very intuitive concept.

Chapter 5, A Modern Paradigm - Closures and Functional Programming, introduces you to a new way of thinking about code called functional programming. We learn how Swift supports this technique and how we can apply it to our programs to make it even more understandable and expressive.

Chapter 6, Make Swift Work For You - Protocols and Generics, describes what generics and protocols are and how they can provide power and safety at the same time.

Chapter 7, Everything Is Connected - Memory Management, dives deeper into the inner-workings of Swift. We discuss how a computer stores information and how we can use that knowledge in combination with some new tools in Swift, to ensure that our code remains responsive and minimizes its effect on battery life.

Chapter 8, Paths Less Traveled – Error Handling, goes into gracefully handling error situations in Swift with error throwing and catching.

Chapter 9, Writing Code the Swift Way - Design Patterns and Techniques, introduces the reader to the art of programming by taking them through a number of specific design patterns that help reduce the complexity of code.

Chapter 10, Harnessing the Past - Understanding and Translating Objective-C, develops a basic understanding of Objective-C with a focus on how it compares to Swift. This allows the reader to make use of the vast resources that exist in Objective-C to help with their Swift development.

Chapter 11, A Whole New World - Developing an App, focuses on explaining the process of creating a real world iOS application, with the help of an example.

Chapter 12, What's Next? - Resources, Advice, and the Next Steps, discusses how to move forward to become the best app developer you possibly can. It provides a list of resources and advice the reader can use to continue their Swift and app development learning process.

What you need for this book

To run the code in this book, you will need Xcode 7.2.

Who this book is for

If you want to build iOS or OS X apps using the most modern technology, this book is ideal for you. Learning Swift will place you into a small developer community that will explode in demand when all the development for Apple's platforms transitions to it. You will find this book especially useful if you are new to programming or if you have yet to develop for iOS or OS X.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

When mentioning pieces of code in text we will use the style as follows: You can see that Hello, playground" was indeed stored in the variable.

If the code is longer it will presented as a block as follows:

if invitees.count > 20 {

  println(Too many people invited)

}

else if invitees.count <= 3 {

    println(Not really a party)

}

else {

    println(Just right)

}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: Now, click on Connect on the Remote Desktop Viewer. Keyboard shortcuts will be displayed using the key style.

Reader feedback

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail <feedback@packtpub.com>, and mention the book's title in the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide at www.packtpub.com/authors.

Customer support

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

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Hover the mouse pointer on the SUPPORT tab at the top.

Click on Code Downloads & Errata.

Enter the name of the book in the Search box.

Select the book for which you're looking to download the code files.

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Downloading the color images of this book

We also provide you with a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. The color images will help you better understand the changes in the output. You can download this file from http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/LearningSwiftSecondEdition_ColorImages.pdf.

Errata

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Questions

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Chapter 1. Introducing Swift

What are you trying to achieve by reading this book? Learning Swift can be fun, but most of us are trying to achieve something bigger. There is something we want to create, a career we want to follow, or maybe something else entirely. Whatever that goal is, I encourage you to keep it in mind as you read this book. It will be much easier for you to learn, from this or any other resource, if you can always relate it to your goal.

With that in mind, before we dive into learning Swift, we have to understand what it really is and how it will help us in achieving our goals. We also need to move forward with an effective learning technique and get a taste of what is to come. To do all of that, we will cover the following topics in this chapter:

Defining our goals for this book

Setting up the development environment

Running our first Swift code

Understanding playgrounds

Learning with this book

Defining our goals for this book

Swift is a programming language developed by Apple primarily to allow developers to continue to push their platforms forward. It is their attempt to make iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS app development more modern, safe, and powerful.

However, Apple has also released Swift as Open Source and begun an effort to add support for Linux with the intent to make Swift even better and a general purpose programming language available everywhere. Some developers have already begun using it to create command-line scripts as a replacement/supplement of the existing scripting languages, such as Python or Ruby and many can't wait to be able to share some of their app code with Web backend code. Apple's priority, at least for now, is to make it the best language possible, to facilitate app development. However, the most important thing to remember is that modern app development almost always requires pulling together multiple platforms into a single-user experience. If a language could bridge those gaps and stay enjoyable to write, safe, and performant, we would have a much easier time making amazing products. Swift is well on its way to reach that goal.

Now, it is important to note that learning Swift is only the first step towards developing. To develop for a device, you must learn the programming language and the frameworks the device maker provides. Being skilled with a programming language is the foundation of getting better at using frameworks and ultimately building apps.

Developing software is like building a table. You can learn the basics of woodworking and nail a few pieces of wood together to make a functional table, but you are very limited in what you can do because you lack advanced woodworking skills. If you want to make a truly great table, you need to step away from the table and focus first on developing your skill set. The better you are at using the tools, the greater the number of possibilities that open up to you to create a more advanced and higher quality piece of furniture. Similarly, with a very limited knowledge of Swift, you can start to piece together a functional app from the code you find online. However, to really make something great, you have to put the time and effort into refining your skill set with the language. Every language feature or technique that you learn opens up more possibilities for your app.

That being said, most developers are driven by a passion to create things and solve problems. We learn best when we can channel our passions into truly improving ourselves and the world around us. We don't want to get stuck learning the minutia of a language with no practical purpose.

The goal of this book is to develop your skills and confidence to dive passionately into creating compelling, maintainable, and elegant apps in Swift. To do that, we will introduce the syntax and features of Swift in a practical way. You will build a rich toolset, while seeing that toolset put to real world usage. So, without further ado, let's jump right into setting up our development environment.

Setting up the development environment

In order to use Swift, you will need to run OS X, the operating system that comes with all Macs. The only piece of software that you will need is called Xcode (version 7 and higher). This is the environment that Apple provides, which facilitates development for its platforms. You can download Xcode for free from the Mac App Store at www.appstore.com/mac/Xcode.

Once downloaded and installed, you can open the app and it will install the rest of Apple's developer tool components. It is as simple as that! We are now ready to run our first piece of Swift code.

Running our first swift code

We will start by creating a new Swift playground. As the name suggests, a playground is a place where you can play around with code. With Xcode open, navigate to File | New | Playground… from the menu bar, as shown in the following screenshot:

Name it MyFirstPlayground, leave the platform as iOS, and save it wherever you wish.

Once created, a playground window will appear with some code already populated inside it for you:

You have already run your first Swift code. A playground in Xcode runs your code every time you make a change and shows you the code results in the sidebar, on the right-hand side of the screen.

Let's break down what this code is doing. The first line is a comment that is ignored while being run. It can be really useful in adding extra information about your code inline with it. In Swift, there are two types of comments: single-line and multi-line. Single-line comments, such as the preceding one, always start with a //. You can also write comments that span multiple lines by surrounding them with /* and */. For example:

/*

  This is a multi-line comment

  that takes up more than one line

  of code

*/

As you can see in the preceding screenshot, the second line, import UIKit, imports a framework called UIKit. UIKit is the name of Apple's framework for iOS development. For this example, we are not actually making use of the UIKit framework so it is safe to completely remove that line of code.

Finally, on the last line, the code defines a variable called str that is being assigned to the text Hello, playground. In the results sidebar, next to that line, you can see that Hello, playground was indeed stored in the variable. As your code becomes more complex, this will become incredibly useful to help you track and watch the state of your code, as it is run. Every time you make a change to the code, the results will update, showing you the consequences of the change.

If you are familiar with other programming languages, many of them require some sort of line terminator. In Swift, you do not need anything like that.

The other great thing about Xcode playgrounds is that they will show you errors as you type them in. Let's add a third line to the playground:

  var str = Something Else

On its own, this is completely valid Swift code. It stores the text Something Else into a new variable called str. However, when we add this to the playground, we are shown an error in the form of a red exclamation mark next to the line number. If you click on the exclamation mark, you will be shown the full error:

This line is highlighted in red and we are shown the Invalid redeclaration of 'str' error. This is because you cannot declare two different variables with the exact same name. Also, notice that the results along the right turned gray instead of black. This indicates that the result being shown is not from the latest code, but the last successful run of the code. The code cannot be successfully run to create a new result because of the error. If we change the second variable to strTwo, the error goes away:

Tip

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at http://www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

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Click on Code Downloads & Errata.

Enter the name of the book in the Search box.

Select the book for which you're looking to download the code files.

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